


holding me closer

by teasockschocolate



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, trapeze is dangerous okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 10:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14446854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teasockschocolate/pseuds/teasockschocolate
Summary: It’s only natural to get frustrated when you spend a lot of time with someone. Tiny annoyances always build up and erupt into fights in any relationship — partner, sibling, friend. After such fights, someone will apologize and then the other will and it’ll be okay again. Unfortunately in these cases, those people will have to admit they are wrong. Phillip and Anne are not willing to do so.(based on a tumblr prompt)





	holding me closer

Anne’s not even sure what brought the fight on. She’d been spending more time at his apartment lately, and the constant pressure of being together had made tension arise. It wasn’t bad and didn’t make her love him any less. Just little quirks that got under her skin — like how he left his dishes in the sink or how he bit his nails. She’d snapped at him for one of the little things that bothered her and he’d fired back something at her and before they knew it their voices were hoarse as they screamed things they didn’t really mean. Anne had stormed out to her trapeze; her haven where she could be all to herself and focus only on the feel of the rope and the screams of her muscles as she pushed herself over the edge.

She stayed at the circus until the show, delaying seeing Phillip for as long as she possibly could. Deep down she felt guilty for getting so angry. She hadn’t meant to be mean, but the last thing she would do is admit she was wrong.

So, instead Anne hid in the girls dressing room, purposely putting on an air of joy as she joked with the other girls. She laughed more loudly than she usually would, silently hoping that Phillip would hear and think she didn’t care. She pulled on her leotard and wig and brushed on her makeup.

She met W.D. outside the dressing tent and they joined the others on the edge of backstage. She caught a flash of Phillip’s red coat in the corner of her eye as he brushed past her to stand in the front, clearly not looking at her. She felt a twinge of annoyance that he wasn’t going to acknowledge her either. Usually he was quick to apologize when they argued. _Well, if that's the way he wants to play it than fine._ The music swelled and she ran out with the troupe to their places for the opening number.

___

As the door cracked shut behind Anne, Phillip’s fingers had immediately itched for a bottle. His mouth burned as he fought the urge to throw back a shot, reminding himself that he had a show to do that night and a drunk ringmaster was the last thing the circus needed. Instead, he kicked the wall as hard as he could, cursing in pain when he stubbed his toe, and threw a couch cushion with all of his might.

He should probably go after Anne, he thought. That’s what he always did. But his whole life had been spent trying to please others. Let her come to him for once.

He felt a dull ache in his chest as he paced. He missed her. But he also didn’t. Anger rose back to his chest as he recalled their fight.

She’d called him overbearing and pushy. He’d said he had to push because otherwise she wouldn’t ever tell him anything. He complained that she’d never let him in and had been pushing him away since the day they met. If she was unhappy or still scared then why didn’t she just go. She’d threatened him for daring to call her a coward when he was always clinging to her because he thought she would leave and had been running from everything for his entire life. They’d gone back and forth, swapping examples of when the other was afraid — Phillip dropping her hand, Anne giving him the cold shoulder the first few weeks of knowing him. It had been stupid and repetitive, and all the times they’d calmly talked about such events were thrown out the window in the heat of the argument.

Phillip still had an hour before he had to get to the tent and knew that Anne would be there now. He tried reading but the words blurred on the pages. He found himself continuously reaching for a drink but stopped himself every time. Anne would be proud of his resistance, he thought bitterly.

He went out, glowering at any happy couple he saw, taking the longest route possible to the docks. He briefly considered asking Barnum to do the show, but Phillip knew if he wasn’t dancing tonight, months of soberity would be going down the drain.

When he reached the tent, it was the first time it didn’t fill him with an impossible joy. He grudgingly dragged his feet to the men’s tent, dressing silently. Each laugh and joke from the others made him angrier, though he knew it wasn’t their fault. He heard her laugh ringing from next door and fought the urge to roll his eyes, not wanting her brother to see and tell her. He wouldn’t let her know that it was bothering him.

He stalked to the front of the crowd before the show, careful to avoid any contact with Anne, and plastered a fake grin on his face as the show began. He was glad he didn’t have to interact with Anne until the end of the show when he usually kissed her — he wondered what he was going to do that night. Maybe just gesture to the group like he had before they were together.

The show was all muscle memory at this point after nearly a year and a half of performing eight shows a week. His only break was during the trapeze routine where he’d typically stand to the side and watch. Tonight, he watched the crowd instead, not wanting to see Anne. He let himself a tiny bit of pleasure watching the awe on their faces. He knew the routine well enough by now to know exactly when the crowd would gasp and applaud. They cheered and he knew Anne had swung upside down and was falling back like a pendulum. In a second, she would grab a swinging bar beneath her and flip over. He waited for another sound of cheers, but frowned when the joy in the crowd quickly turned to horror.

Suddenly the crowd was screaming and he heard W.D. shout his sister’s name. Phillip whipped around just in time to see Anne hit the ground.

Before he could fully register what had happened, he was sprinting towards her. Their petty fight was forgotten as he fell to his knees beside her.

Anne lay at an awkward angle, her face scrunched up in pain. “Ow,” She mumbled.

W.D. swung down on a rope and landed beside Phillip. “What the hell, Anne?” He hissed.

“Hey!” Phillip snapped.

“Weren’t you watching? She let go. What the hell were you thinking?”

“We have an audience.” Lettie whispered.

“I’m going to call a carriage.” Constantine offered, running off.

“I’ll take her to the hospital.” Phillip said. “We’ll just give everyone a refund.”

“I can stay.” Anne protested. “I just landed funny.”

“Anne, you may have broken a bone. We need to get you to a doctor.”

“But don’t stop the show.” Anne pleaded.

“Anne—“

“Don’t. Please.”

Deciding he’d argued with her enough for a while, Phillip looked to Lettie.

“I can keep it going.” She answered his question before he asked.

Phillip nodded his thanks and touched Anne gently. “Can you get up?”

She started to sit up and fell back, shaking her head.

“Okay, hold on.” He repositioned himself into a crouch and gingerly picked her up. W.D. hovered anxiously, helping Phillip stand and slinging Anne’s arms around Phillip’s neck to keep herself up.

She whimpered quietly as he lifted her and his heart broke. “You’re okay. You’ll be okay.” He whispered, kissing her forehead.

“W.D., you stay too.” Anne said as her brother started to follow.

“But—“

“I don’t want the show to be even more messed up.”

W.D. sighed and stroked her hair briefly before turning back to the troupe.

Phillip walked slowly out of the tent, each step tentative. He could hear Lettie trying to move the show along, but his sole focus was on Anne. A carriage waited outside and the driver helped him in.

The adrenaline of her fall fading, it was now awkward between them. She couldn’t sit alone, so she just lay tensed in his arms.

“I’m sorry.” Phillip said into the dark.

“Me too.” Her voice was quiet.

“It was stupid. I didn’t mean anything.”

“I know. Me neither.”

“It’s my fault you fell, wasn’t it?”

"No,"

"You were distracted, weren't you."

She sighed. "I mean... I guess but it's fine." She allowed herself a small smile. “It’s my fault you ran into a fire. Let’s call it even.”

“I love you.” Her murmured, delicately pressing his lips to hers. She responded weakly and he placed his brow to hers. “What hurts?”

“Everything.” She groaned. “My ribs and my wrists really. It was so stupid. I just missed the bar.” She yelped as the carriage jolted to a stop and Phillip cradled her closer to him.

He weaved his way to the hospital and Anne was quickly whisked away on a gurney. A doctor told him to wait and they’d get him soon.

He knew rationally that she would be fine. Probably just a break or sprain which would put her off trapeze for a week. That still didn’t stop the enormous knot in his stomach as he paced the hall.

“Sir?” A new doctor was back with a clipboard and gestured for Phillip to follow. “A few questions.”

“Okay,” Phillip wrung his hands and followed the man.

“Name of the patient?”

“Anne Wheeler.”

“How’d she hurt herself?”

“Um, she fell from a trapeze. We work in the Barnum Circus.”

The doctor raised his eyebrows. “I’ve heard of you two. I assumed she was your servant or something when you brought her in,” Phillip’s fists clenched. “But you’re the Carlyle son who ran off with the circus girl.”

“I don’t see how this pertains to her injury.” Phillip said coldly.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I actually went to the circus myself and enjoyed it. I was just surprised.”

“How’s Anne?” Phillip’s voice wavered anger and annoyance.

“Oh. Right. She broke two ribs and badly bruised her wrist. I’ll bring you in with her and talk to you two.” He led Phillip down the hall and opened the door to an infirmary. Anne sat in a hospital bed, chewing her lower lip and looking around anxiously. Her face brightened when she saw him and he returned the smile, kissing the top of her head.

“Alright, Miss Wheeler,” The doctor sat down in the chair next to Anne. “You’ll need to be bedridden until your ribs heal which should be about six weeks.”

“Six weeks?” Phillip’s heart ached for Anne. He wasn’t sure she’d ever stayed still for six minutes let alone six weeks.

The doctor nodded. “Avoid coughing or breathing too deeply. It’ll just make it worse. The wrist should heal by the time the ribs do. Until then you shouldn’t do anything with it. So no trapeze for a while, alright?”

Anne made a face but agreed.

“Since it’s nothing too serious, you’re free to go. Come back in about a month from today and we’ll see where you’re at, assuming you don’t have any problems before then.” The doctor placed his clipboard down and offered a smile. “I’ll have a nurse wheel you down to a carriage and then Mr. Carlyle, you’ll need to carry her to her bed. She shouldn’t even try walking for a week.”

Anne grumbled under her breath. Phillip squeezed her shoulder. “Thank you.”

___

 

Despite Anne’s initial protests, Phillip brought her back to his apartment.

“You’re going to get sick of me.” Anne had warned him in the carriage.

“Impossible.” He’d kissed her head.

“We just fought today.”

“But we’re okay now and we won’t again anytime soon.”

“People will talk if I’m living with you.”

“They are anyway.”

“It’ll be like we’re married.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Anne had given up, not wholeheartedly resisting in the first place anyway. She spent the majority of her time at Phillip’s anyway, so what really was the difference?

He’d carried her into his apartment and gently helped her change out of her performance leotard into a nightgown she already had there. He laid her down and after her repeatedly insisting that there was nothing he could do for her, he slid into bed next to her.

She breathed in the smell of his cologne mixed with the distinct musty smell of the circus and smiled. She’d never stayed with the plan of staying for longer than the night. She could spend the next six weeks like this.

She never moved out.

**Author's Note:**

> i posted this on tumblr months ago but here ya go now. follow my tumblr (same username) for all my fics, send prompts, or just cry about phillip and anne with me <3


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